Mortgage lenders in Brazil: Banco Central authorisation

What a lender does in a purchase

The lender studies the application, values the property, grants the loan and takes the property as security. The way home loans are built (the SFH and SFI systems, SAC and Price amortization, alienação fiduciária) is explained in mortgages in Brazil: how they work, SFH vs SFI and alienação fiduciária. This page only deals with who the lender is, how you check it, and what its agents may do.

How to check that an institution is authorised

1. Ask for the full corporate name and the CNPJ (company tax number) of the institution that will lend, as written in the contract, not only the brand on the leaflet.
2. Go to the website of the Banco Central yourself, typing the address (bcb.gov.br). The BCB has a service called “Encontre uma instituição” at https://www.bcb.gov.br/estabilidadefinanceira/encontreinstituicao; the page loaded but showed only the title “Banco Central do Brasil” without JavaScript, and we could not test it.
3. The BCB also publishes files “com a relação das entidades autorizadas pelo Banco Central e em funcionamento no país” (with the list of entities authorised by the Banco Central and operating in the country), by reference date. The page says they come from the “Sistema de Informações sobre Entidades de Interesse do Banco Central” (UNICAD) and are updated monthly, on the fifth business day after the reference date. We could not open the files themselves.
4. Compare the name and the CNPJ in the list with the contract. If the institution does not appear, ask the BCB before paying anything.

The BCB’s open-data pages (dadosabertos.bcb.gov.br) answered “Requisição Inválida” and we did not insist. We read no terms of use for any of these BCB pages.

Which institutions may lend

Home finance goes through two systems. As read earlier on 15 October 2026 in the Câmara dos Deputados database, Lei 9.514/1997 says in article 2 that the Sistema de Financiamento Imobiliário (SFI, real estate finance system) may be operated by “as caixas econômicas, os bancos comerciais, os bancos de investimento, os bancos com carteira de crédito imobiliário, as sociedades de crédito imobiliário, as associações de poupança e empréstimo, as companhias hipotecárias” and, at the discretion of the national monetary council, other entities. We could not re-read that page today (the server refused our requests), and the Planalto page of the law did not answer. Read the guide on SFH vs SFI for the difference between the two systems. We found no rule in our reading that says a person or a company that is not authorised may grant a home loan as a financial institution; if a “private lender” proposes one, ask the BCB.

What a banking correspondent may and may not do

A banking correspondent (correspondente bancário) is a business that an institution contracts to serve customers. Resolution CMN 4.935, in force since 1 February 2022 according to the BCB page (art. 26), says, as shown on that page:

• The correspondent acts “por conta e sob as diretrizes da instituição contratante” (on behalf of and under the guidelines of the contracting institution), and the institution “assume inteira responsabilidade pelo atendimento prestado aos clientes e usuários” (art. 3).
• Who may be a correspondent: the companies, entrepreneurs and associations defined in the Civil Code, providers of notarial and registry services, and public companies (art. 4).
• The activities include “recepção e encaminhamento de propostas de operações de crédito e de arrendamento mercantil” (receiving and forwarding proposals for credit and leasing operations) (art. 12, V). The correspondent receives and forwards: it does not grant the credit.
• In face-to-face credit offers the correspondent must wear a badge with the name of the contracted company, the person’s name and tax number (art. 15, I) and, in publicity, identify itself by the name it is known by (art. 14, III).
• It must use “exclusivamente de padrões, normas operacionais e tabelas definidas pela instituição contratante” (art. 14, VI) and may not “cobrar em seu próprio benefício, a qualquer título” amounts linked to the institution’s products (art. 14, VII).
• The institution may not charge customers served by the correspondent a fee or commission, except “as tarifas constantes da tabela adotada pela instituição contratante” (art. 11, I).

The article numbers come from the text as shown by the BCB page; check them against the resolution. The BCB’s impact analysis of July 2021 (which we also read) describes the earlier regime and reports about 220,000 correspondents contracted by authorised institutions at the end of 2020, per UNICAD. In practice, that means: the contract is with the institution; a broker, developer or “consultant” who passes your file to it is, at most, a correspondent, and any payment to the correspondent personally for the product should be questioned in writing.

The CET

Resolução CMN 4.881/2020, in force since 1 February 2021, says in article 2 that the CET “é uma taxa que representa, na data de seu cálculo, de forma consolidada, os encargos e as despesas” of the operation. Article 7 requires institutions, “previamente à contratação”, to inform the CET, and article 8 to state the CET in advertisements of credit operations. Compare offers by the CET, not by the interest rate alone. Read the CET guide and use the mortgage calculator.

Advertising rules and terms

We read no advertising rule on lenders beyond the CET in article 8 and the correspondent’s duties above. No terms of use were read for the BCB pages.

Which professional to consult

A property lawyer can read the loan contract and the alienação fiduciária clause. A real estate broker can tell you which institution the seller or developer works with, but the loan is a separate contract. For the valuation the lender orders, see property appraisers.

Questions to ask

• What is the exact corporate name and CNPJ of the institution that lends?
• Are you the institution or a correspondent, and which institution is responsible?
• What is the CET, and where is the calculation statement?
• Which index adjusts the balance, and what is charged besides the interest?
• What happens if I stop paying? (see mortgage default and foreclosure)